Africa’s 5 Unicorn Startups – Which Has the Highest Valuation?

Recently, global engineering talent outsourcer Andela reached the highly exalted status as a unicorn startup – a startup with a valuation of $1-billion or more. Andela joins an exceedingly exclusive group as one of Africa’s 5 startup unicorns currently operating.

The first startup in Africa to achieve a ten-figure valuation was Jumia. The Nigerian-founded company is now a pan-African retail leader and an e-commerce powerhouse, but its valuation dropped below $1-billion in 2019 due to its volatile share price.

Interestingly, 4 of 5 current unicorns are from Nigeria – the African country that saw the most VC investments in 2020, according to Statista. The other unicorn is from Senegal, which doesn’t even chart on Statista’s list of top African country’s for VC.

Another interesting tidbit is that 4 out of 5 unicorns provide fintech solutions, while Andela provides talent outsourcing.

This short list indicates Africa’s 5 unicorn startups ranked in terms of their valuation and only includes companies that were founded in Africa. Chipper, while also a startup unicorn that operates extensively in Africa, was excluded as it was founded in the US. Continue reading

Image: Inc42